Friday, May 30, 2014

Jay Carney Steps Down as White House Press Secretary

As my Swiss friend Romie might say, "What the big deal is?" Why should it be suspicious or controversial that a press secretary would resign? It's a position with a rather high turnover rate. George W. Bush had four of them in eight years. Jay Carney was President Obama's second.[Story continues below]

I'm also seeing a bunch of Twitter and other commentary from Right Wing World, calling Carney a "serial liar," and worse. Which I find kind of amusing, since the position is about "spin," though not everyone would call that lying. It's a rather thankless position, one that does not lend itself well to blunt honesty. And I wonder, who would the right consider an honest press secretary? Ari Fleischer? Ha! Dana Perino? Haha! The late (and former FOX "News" Sunday host) Tony Snow? No way.

So no, I don't think Carney set himself apart as particularly worse than any of his predecessors. But frankly, I haven't been a fan of very many of these guys (and gals). Historically, I rank them right in there with the heads of the DNC and RNC for people I don't particularly like to listen to.All of them are in a position of spinning to their own advantage, all the time. But that might be the difference between a liberal like me, and your typical hardcore conservative: I don't love the person in this position simply because he's "on my team." What do I mean? Scroll down below the excepted article below, and I'll show you.

[Excerpt]White House press secretary Jay Carney leavingJay Carney is stepping down as White House press secretary, President Barack Obama announced on Friday.
Obama said Carney told him of his decision in April, and Carney later said he plans to leave the position in mid-June.
The President announced that deputy press secretary Josh Earnest will step into the role. . .

Now, what did I mean by the hero-worship some on the right have had of the president of their party's spokesman? Well, here you go. Right wing outpost FreeRepublic.com had a love-fest with Bush era press conferences, particularly those of Tony Snow, who was himself--it is alleged--a "FReeper." This image would accompany any post regarding a White House press conference. Can you imagine a fawning graphic like this for any other politician?